My 3 and a half month old kitten

Question
My kitten just recently had worms. We took her to the vet and the vet confirmed what we thought and gave her the pill. Since then she has been throwing up constantly. We gave her the second pill today and she hasnt thrown up since but yesterday she threw up four times and today twice. I was wondering what could be the porblem? Also I've noticed that sometimes when she is sleeping, she will start twitching, sometimes violently and I was wondering if that could be due to nightmares or dreams? Can cats remember there parents or sibling if they were jsut taken away 2 months ago? Thanks very much. It would be great if you could reply to this A.S.A.P.

Answer
HI Robin,

I think you need to bring your cat back to the vet and explain about the vomiting right away. If she had lots of worms and then had medication to kill the parasites, sometimes they all die at once and the mass of dead worms can create an obstruction in her intestine. It could also be that the vomiting is unrelated to the worms & medication - for exaple something she swallowed - but she needs to be examined ASAP.

If the vet finds nothing obstructing her digestive system and can't offer any other solution, I always look at diet first. Cats can have food allergies and those can develop suddenly as they do in humans - especially after vaccinations are given. The most common allergies in cats are to corn and other grains. I recommend a high quality canned food - no dry food. There are many reasons canned food with no grains is better but the main one is that all dry food contains too much plant matter. Even the new grain free dry foods have a lot of potato in them - a starchy vegetable difficult for cats to digest. Please take a look at the following websites for informatio of cat nutrition and how a high quality canned food or a home made raw meat diet can prevent diabetes, obesity and many other health problems in cats caused by inappropriate "meat flavoured cereal".

http://www.catinfo.org

http://www.catnutrition.org/handout.html

http://www.maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

As for the twitching while sleeping, yes cats dream and probably have both good and bad dreams just like we do. She could be frightened but she could also be excited, chasing a mouse or something in her dream. However keep an eye on the twitching because excessive twitching or if it seems out of control she could be having small seizures. Seizures can be treated with medication and with diet changes (low carbohydrate diets).

Cats certainly remember their siblings and mother - they can remember for years and in some cases their entire lives. My cat was a feral cat trapped by another volunteer in the rescue group I volunteer with. Though being trapped turned out to be good for her because she is very happy in my home, it was a traumatic experience and she was separated from her kittens who were adopted into other homes. I'd had Emma for 3 years and one day the woman who trapped her came over for a visit. Emma is friendly with everyone and goes right up to strangers, but she started walking towards this woman and then recognized her - she froze in terror, her eyes went big and she ran and hid under the bed the rest of the day. She wouldn't even come out for treats (and she'll do anything for a treat). So Emma remembered the woman who trapped her and separated her from her kittens 3 years before.

Good luck and I hope your kitten feels better soon!